What is the best system to enjoy FS2004 for a low budget person

[jasminegab]

I'm a college student that dosen't work. My money is mostly gain through self-employement while I'm on summer vacation. I brought fS2004 because my system had the min requirement. However, I noticed that it runs very slow. It's like flying while someone keeps pushing the pause button. Can someone please recommend a good system to run FS2004 without breaking the pockets. I would go ask the clerk at BestBuy or CircutCity but they have no clue as to which system is best to run FS2004. So, I turn to my fellow virtual pilots who know the best.



Thanks,

JasmineGab

[ponyboy]

Hi Jasmine:

That is the endless question for most simmers... what is the best system? There are countless discussions on what people think are the best. You'll see at the end of a lot of messages the user will list his system specifications. You read enough of the issues and see the specs you almiost get a feel for works well and what doesen't.

So there is no right single answer. Everyone seems to have their favorite solutions. Some want the best performance while others want all the eye candy looking its best. Then I even read some simmers never step out of the cockpit to look around - they want realism.

You say you meet the minimum: 450MHz, 128meg RAM, 8meg AGP card, 2 gig hard drive. Whoafully under-powered for this new baby even though it will "technically" run. From my limited experience with this I would (keeping in mind limited funds):

1. Concentrate on a system with the fastest CPU you can afford.
2. Try to get up to 512 meg ram (256 minimum)
3. Use a 4x AGP card with at least 64meg on board
4. A fast (7200 rpm) hard disk
5. Windows XP (just in keeping with the latest OS)
6. Correct drivers can have a major impact on performance

I have a 3gig system with all the speed toys but I am testing 2004 on my old backup system:
P4 1.8 on a 533MHz FSB motherboard
1gig DDR333 RAM
MSI Geforce Ti4600 (4x) AGP card
Windows XP Pro

The more I keep tweaking-testing (defrag hard disks, keep things running at a minimum in the background, latest drivers, etc.)the better the results I am seeing.

Boy did get winded with this reply... In short, keep reading the threads check what others are using and experiment.